American Medical Association claims a spike in hearing loss is near crisis levels for ages 12- 27 years old.

My fiancee has a physical therapist she sees for a car accident that injured her spine. A few weeks ago I was shooting the s**t with him and we got on a similar topic. He was telling me he has a large number of teenage patients, as young as 14 coming in because of spinal problems. These are kids who have had phones since they were young and by the time they hit high school, they've spent so many years sitting there, staring down at their phones that they've actually developed spinal problems or significant curvature of the spine. They've been looking down at their phones while they're still growing and so their spines have grown in deformed.

He said he never had high school students before and now that's a large percentage of his practice. All for upper back and neck problems and pain.

My fiancee has a physical therapist she sees for a car accident that injured her spine. A few weeks ago I was shooting the s**t with him and we got on a similar topic. He was telling me he has a large number of teenage patients, as young as 14 coming in because of spinal problems. These are kids who have had phones since they were young and by the time they hit high school, they've spent so many years sitting there, staring down at their phones that they've actually developed spinal problems or significant curvature of the spine. They've been looking down at their phones while they're still growing and so their spines have grown in deformed.

He said he never had high school students before and now that's a large percentage of his practice. All for upper back and neck problems and pain.

If an employer wants me to be available continuously, then they need to provide a dedicated, paid-for cell phone for that purpose -- and compensate me for added stress and lack of sleep. Otherwise, I'll ignore whomever I want on my personal cell phone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 64gtoboy

In the US the pressure to be available to work at the drop of a hat 24/7 coerced so many of us into carrying a phone at all times, not to mention those employers who required it created a paradigm where now if you don't have one you are considered the odd duck. I've seen stuff on pbs where you have people in places that don't have running water but do have cell service. The world is just a weird place. I still have a land line for various reasons, and one of my greatest pleasures these days is not answering it.

And throughout the ages we have had the doommongering of the prior generation - Print, Radio, TV, Walkmans, Computers etc have all been heralded as the downfall of society as we know it.

...I think society will be ok

I'm not so sure.

First, I don't think "print" should be on your list as it was the one thing which led to society as we know it. I believe there is a direct line between reading and intellect.

Certainly TV should be on any list of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; nothing quite like the magic box that can simultaneously rob people of their time, will and intellect. The internet in general, and cell phones in particular have not delivered on the promise of a golden age of worldwide enlightenment. And while I'd like to point a finger squarely at advertisement, I must be honest and label that as an "unindicted co-conspirator." You can tell we're close to the edge when more than 50% of the top television programs by viewership fall into the category of "reality TV" like "Big Brother" and "Survivor".

Think about this: we live in a time where the entirety of human knowledge is accessible 24/7 from a device you can fit in your pocket. What has that actually brought? Chewing Tide Pods, the banana and Sprite challenge, cinnamon challenge, ice bucket challenge and condom snorting.

The internet (and by extension, cell phones) have brought us people who are famous for nothing more than getting tattoos and piercings, putting on makeup, dressing like *****s or stalking celebrities on YouTube/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Snapchat. These people have been venerated to the point where they're called "influencers". Possibly the real failure of the internet to be a vehicle for knowledge and enlightenment is based on a false assumption that people willingly challenge their beliefs and preconceptions. They will not. In fact, if anything has been proven is that generally, people will flock to those places that reinforce those same preconceptions and beliefs, distilling them into a fervent hatred of those who don't share them. Certainly this is not a new phenomenon, but the ubiquity of the internet has the effect of concentrating the experience. Of course there are exceptions, but so very few as to be inconsequential...

But to be fair, this is what people want. Are cell phones a cause or effect? Is it bad parenting or bad parents? Hard to say either way. All I can say is that in my lifetime I've seen an arduous climb to the top, followed by a mad dash to the bottom. And just when I think I've seen it all, something new comes along to make me say "Okay, now I've seen it all."

I'm not sure what's next, and I gave up trying to figure it out years ago. But I am sure whatever it is, at some level it will involve mindless self-promotion.

I'd love to know who here is a hard-working, touring musician without a smart phone! For those of us in the trenches, who actually leave the house and are on the road playing music, it is truly indispensable.

Right there. That's the danger of becoming over-reliant on technology.

I've been a touring musician for almost 40 years, and I can tell you that it wasn't all that long ago we had to do things like memorize phone numbers and peoples names, visualize and plan an entire trip by reading a map, carry on conversations with actual people and generally interact with others on a direct personal level. And that's a lot of what's missing from society...

The smart phone is inarguably a valuable tool, but that's all it is: a tool; performing musicians have been doing so for hundreds of years without them. If you're worthless without your special tool, then you're just worthless and the special tool just masks your worthlessness.

I totally get the hate on the zombies. Zoning out on useless photo sites etc. It will make you dumb if you let it.

But for me, I have the entire universe of human knowledge in my pocket. Important data recallable in a matter of seconds. I can record data with the camera, it’s a compass, it’s a level. It can measure distance and speed. I can communicate with people overseas for free, instantly.

I used to go to a library, go through the card catalog, find a section, find a book, look at the index, etc. Now I can do that using a voice command.

It is a great power, and requires great responsibility. You can kill someone with a hammer, or you can build a shelter for someone in need. A friend of mine built a cottage using mostly YouTube videos on construction techniques and it’s a very well built cottage. Would have taken years longer if he had to rely on the library.

Remember in math class when they said no one would carry a caculator everywhere? My phone is Jetsons level futuristic hologram technology to me... until I get lost in some nonsense web forum...

I like to think of my iphone as an aid to my memory, it certainty helps when you can store peoples addresses multiple numbers such as work, home and email all in one convenient place, I can check my bank details in an instant and have access to free wifi almost everywhere I travel, we take this for granted, it's quite an amazing thing really compared to say just 10-15 years ago and they're only going to improve and get more powerful.

You could go back much, much farther to find changes in societal function to rail against. Have we started to rely too much on someone else growing or raising our food for us? We used to have spend all our time getting it ourselves? How has this changed us for worse? Now hardly anyone has the knowledge to do for themselves. They just sit around all day making music.

Or why does everyone constantly need to drive somewhere or travel somewhere... always on the move? Why can't you just be happy with where you are or as far as your legs can take you?

On and on and on. There's no reason for any of it. You can't stop or control it. For everything that's "bad", something good happens. For everything "good", something bad happens. It's only from your perspective that it's one or the other. Yin & yang. It just is. And at some point in the future, it won't be.

You know, you can read books without cutting down that tree for paper, and without spending additional fossil fuels to get it to you. You can read it from that portable knowledge and communications database in your pocket... you call a "cell phone".

I find that humanity lost touch with humanity by technology. If its not the phone, its the video game, or the computer. People should take a "no technology" day or two so they can get a reality check sometimes....

It would be too much of an grumpy old man argument to rant about and we can't do anything about it in the context of society in general. So I agree, but we are totally f.....ed.

What I CAN say, is that I become a killing machine when I turn around and I see someone gazing at their phones mid session.
I find it 100% detrimental to the workflow and think phones should be left out of the control room.
How can you lose yourself in the music and work and be productive with other people in the room, while you look at the news feed, facebook messages, whatsup messages from your mum, read an article etc etc.....

It would be too much of an grumpy old man argument to rant about and we can't do anything about it in the context of society in general. So I agree, but we are totally f.....ed.

What I CAN say, is that I become a killing machine when I turn around and I see someone gazing at their phones mid session.
I find it 100% detrimental to the workflow and think phones should be left out of the control room.
How can you lose yourself in the music and work and be productive with other people in the room, while you look at the news feed, facebook messages, whatsup messages from your mum, read an article etc etc.....

It just took me walking away from a session once or twice for people to know that I do not accept that on my watch.
Also in personal interactions I just stop talking and pretent that I don't remember what the conversation was about, when people are staring at their screen and mumbling; "....uhuh, ..uhuh..".
Then I'm the one starting doing "....uhuh, ...... uhuh...", ....... and I don't need a smartphone to zone out; there's enough stuff going on in my mind.

It's the people who can't keep their hands and minds off them that are losing out on the human experience. People are just too zoned out of where they are. I see most people glued to their screens on the bus, all the time. My son once had to pull a girl back from walking right in front of a moving bus- I'm sure it happens a lot.

What really kills me is seeing a couple at a restaurant and they're both on their phones.

It's the people who can't keep their hands and minds off them that are losing out on the human experience. People are just too zoned out of where they are. I see most people glued to their screens on the bus, all the time. My son once had to pull a girl back from walking right in front of a moving bus- I'm sure it happens a lot.

What really kills me is seeing a couple at a restaurant and they're both on their phones.

Modern parlance describes such a person as a "Dumbwalker"
I prefer "Meanderthal"